Shepherds College Character Trait #3: Initiative

Definition of Initiative: readiness and ability in initiating action; enterprise

Out of the six character traits the college emphasizes, initiative is the one that makes colorful balloons, whirling confetti and loud cheers go off inside my head. I have this reaction for two reasons:

1.       I’ve been placed in positions of management since I’ve been a teenager. There are qualities in your employees that you learn to prize more than others, and initiative is one of them. An employee that recognizes what needs to be done, and then does it without waiting to be asked, makes their time, their boss, their co-workers and their company so much more productive. It’s an invaluable trait to bring into an organization.

2.      I’m a mother of a teenager, and as any mother of a typical, garden-variety type teenager knows, initiative is hard to come by.  I know my daughter understands that a household needs certain things accomplished in order to function on a daily basis.   Clean dishes are a handy thing to have when dinnertime rolls around, clean laundry is mandatory for attending school, stuff like that. When I walk through the door after a long day of work and I see a sink filled with dirty dishes that she created from her endless after-school snacking, it’s common to hear me ask, “Couldn’t you have done the dishes?” to which she replies, “No one asked me to.” Or better yet, “I didn’t know I needed to.”  Huh.  I would fire her, but I think that’s actually what she wants.

At Shepherds College, we know that initiative is important for the students to learn, not only for job performance, but for daily living as an independent young adult. When one of our graduates moves out on her own, she needs to recognize when her food or supplies are getting low and do something about it. 

She needs to be aware when her work clothes are no longer clean and take the appropriate action to remedy the situation. Her parents aren’t going to be there to do these tasks for her. She needs to recognize that a task needs to be done, and then do it without being told. 

Here are several ways we accomplish this goal at Shepherds College:

Mr. Gaschke encourages initiative in the residential areas by putting the students in a position of responsibility regarding cleaning supplies and paper products.  When supplies are getting low, it’s up to the students to notify him of the need to restock.  He also expects the students to take the initiative to discuss make-up work with him if they miss school.

Mrs. Konopasek creates initiative scenarios for the students to role play in Personal Development 2. She’s also been known to purposely mess up her classroom to see if the students demonstrate initiative in straightening it up!  Heads up students!

Miss Pollard asked her third-year students to find a need in the community and meet it. The students took the initiative to look through the newspapers, find needs that were mentioned and plan service projects to help meet the needs. The students will be volunteering at animal shelters, planning a fun day for the girls at the Agape House and assisting with yard work, also at the Agape House.

Our students working with a girl from the Agape House.

Initiative is one very important key to our students’ success in school and in their pursuit of an independent living. At Shepherds College, we teach them to set goals and follow through with them on their own, to recognize needs and meet them without being told.

We have no doubt they can do it. Believing in their abilities, even when others don't, will give them the confidence to take initiative and succeed in their jobs, in their homes, and in any area of their appropriately independent lives.

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.

Shepherds College Character Trait #2: Discernment

 Definition of Discernment – the act or process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment

Shepherds College emphasizes six character traits to equip students for internships and life after college.  In a previous blog I covered Diligence. Today, we’ll look at how Shepherds College teaches the second character trait of Discernment.

The students are given choices from the time their alarm goes off in the morning to the time their head hits the pillow again in the evening – 

What should I eat?

“Should I get up and get to class on time, or should I hit the snooze button and get some more sleep?”

“Should I put more sugar on my sugar-coated cereal, or should I add fruit to a bowl of wheat flakes?”

“Should I brush my teeth, or should I just use mouth wash and hope nobody notices the difference?”

“Should I sit by the guy I have a crush on even though I’ll be distracted through the entire class, or should I sit across the other side of the room?”

“Should I do my homework or play a video game?”

What should I do?

“Should I read my Bible or my Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual?”

“Should I confront my friend for talking about me behind my back, or should I tell everyone that he secretly likes Amanda?”

Choices, choices, choices.  Not all are a matter of right or wrong, good or evil, to sin or not to sin. Some are simply a question of what would be okay for the student versus what would be best for the student. We want every student to discern -to thoughtfully examine and then determine -what would be best in the situation they’re facing and then act accordingly.

The staff teach discernment by asking the students, “Do you think there’s a better way you could have handled that situation?” They talk things through and analyze the situation, sometimes weighing other options, sometimes searching Scripture for the “right” choice, the Godly choice.

In Personal Development, the students talk about relationships – a heavy topic at the college level as you can imagine.  Who should we build friendships with? What type of person should we date? How do we know who we should marry? All these questions should be answered by using discernment.

Sometimes games are played, like Jenga, where the students practice building each other up rather than tearing each other down. They need to carefully discern encouraging words over hurtful words.

Miss Houk helps the students learn discernment by guiding them toward God’s Word. When they invest their time and energy into memorizing Scripture, they get to know God better and build a stronger relationship with Him. Knowing His Word will help the students discern between right and wrong, between good and best:

“All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning all of them are right; they are faultless to those who have knowledge.” Proverbs 8:8-9

“Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.” Hosea 14:9

“My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble; when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” Proverbs 3:21-24

The character trait of discernment is important in all areas of life - including the work force - so we teach it at Shepherds College.

The students will have lots of choices to make as they venture out on their own. Discernment will help keep the “Appropriate” in their Independence.

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.

Shepherds College Character Trait #1: Diligence

Definition of Diligence – constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind.

As I wrote in the blog, A College with Character, Shepherds College emphasizes six character traits to equip students for internships and life after college.  Over the next few weeks, I’ll be showing you what each trait looks like in our program.

After reading the above definition for diligence, I had this thought, “Wow. I am so not the person who should be writing about this topic.”  

I am the woman who purchased birthday cards for every friend and family member at the beginning of the year – in 2005. They are still sitting in pristine, unsigned condition at the bottom of my sock drawer.  They’re Hallmarks, so I figure in 93 more years my descendants can sell them at an antique fair and feel the love at that time. 

I’m the woman who began writing a journal when I was nine or ten years old. I told everyone that I would daily document my life’s journey with the written word. I kept at it diligently for about… about… well, hmmm, the last entry I remember making went something like this, “My goldfish Killer died. I forgot to clean his stupid tank and my stupid sister didn’t remind me. Good thing Jaws and Orca are still alive, but they look funny. It was a bad day.” Jaws and Orca died that night and my last memory of those poor fish is wrapping them up in a paper towel and putting them at the bottom of my sock drawer to await burial in the spring.

I’m the woman who made the resolution to become the oldest power walker in the 2016 Summer Olympics after hearing that these athletes have the lowest percentage of body fat compared with the other Olympic athletes. I trained a total of about 5 minutes then realized I was too sinfully proud to waddle around the neighborhood in Spandex. My cute, new athletic socks ended up at the bottom of… um, my sock drawer.

I’m also the woman who intends to clean out her sock drawer every weekend, but always finds something else more pressing – like sorting magazine recipes by dominant vegetable used, or color-coordinating my hangers to match my shirts. To be truthful though, I’m also a little bit scared to find out what other guilt/shame/horror-inducing items lay at the bottom of my sock drawer. I think I’ll leave that for my descendants to discover too.

So now that I’ve come to the realization that sock drawers = the death of diligence, I’ve decided to go with my original instinct - I really shouldn’t be the one writing about this. I’m going to let the Shepherds College staff tell you about it themselves:

Angela Houk, Dean of Shepherds College, said, “At Shepherds College, diligence means investing my time and energy to complete each task assigned to me. Students learn this character trait by completing class assignments, chores and service projects. When students invest time completing assignments, their grades reflect their efforts. When students complete chores, the students and those living in their residential area all benefit from a clean community. 

It may be easier to take the quick way out, but when we invest time to complete tasks, we receive the satisfaction of a job well done.”

Miss Luchterhand is one instructor who teaches diligence in her classroom. She is having the students do research projects in Language Arts. The students have to find information about a state using books and the internet. They wanted to give up when she told them that they can’t use Wikipedia, but that gave her the opportunity to talk about the importance of diligence.

In Study Skills, the students show diligence by keeping their lockers clean. Miss Luchterhand randomly performs locker checks. Usually there will be at least one messy locker which gives her another opportunity to discuss diligence with the students.

Mr. Andrus supports the teaching of diligence through his use of repetition in the classroom. He asks his students to repeatedly perform tasks on the computer until they learn the skill – a great example of diligence in action!

Mr. Gaschke, Residential Life Faculty, teaches diligence through the use of tools such as check lists, instruction notebooks and chore charts. These tools keep the students accountable for their tasks and also serve as reminders until the jobs get done.

The character trait of diligence is a vital one in the work force so we teach and support it in multiple ways throughout our program. The students learn to give 100% of their time and energy to important tasks. 

At Shepherds College, the students will learn to diligently follow their dreams of Appropriate Independence - as long as they stay out of my sock drawer.

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.

A College with Character

Back in 2009, Shepherds College had just completed its first year. We had only a handful of students, but we could already see the potential in the program.

The leadership was dynamic, hands-on and visionary.

The teachers were warm, energetic and creative.

The curriculum was simplified, yet groundbreaking.

The program was comprehensive, life-changing and one-of-a-kind.

We all knew it could be successful in bringing hope for a brighter future to students with intellectual disabilities.  But, how would we reach the prospective students, where were they, what were they like, and what would the students be like after completing three years of our program?

This was the stuff of marketing, so in 2009 we brought in professionals who helped us develop a plan to reach young adults with intellectual disabilities who wanted an advanced education - people who needed to hear that there was a new post-secondary option available to them.

The marketing company gave us a lot of good information and a solid plan for moving forward with college recruitment, but the one area they couldn’t help us with – the one area we needed to work out on our own – was “values.” What values would underpin the whole college program? What values would resonate with all individuals? What values would we teach to the students to impact their future relationships, influence their decisions as independent adults and equip them to excel in their internships and future careers?

After many marketing and faculty meetings, we decided on six values – or character traits - that we hoped to instill in the students by the time they graduated:

Diligence – Investing their time and energy to complete each task assigned to them

Discernment – Perceiving the difference between right and wrong

Initiative – Recognizing and doing what needs to be done before they are asked to do it

Integrity – Knowing and doing what is right all the time

Respect – Recognizing and showing value to God, authority, others, property, and themselves

Responsibility – Knowing and doing what is expected of them

The students would hear about and learn these character traits in a variety of ways every day in their classes. The Residential Life training would support the development of these character traits in the students’ living areas. The faculty and staff would exemplify these character traits in their own lives so students could see them as role models for the values of the college.

And what company wouldn’t want an employee who exhibited these traits in the workplace? 

They are a cornerstone for the success of our program, and they provide a solid path for the students’ journey toward Appropriate Independence.

Watch this blog in the coming weeks. I hope to give you an idea of what teaching each character trait looks like in different classes, in Res Life, and in the activity of the students.

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

                                                                                                        Unknown

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.